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Hello all. I posted looooooooong ago (in the archives) on Onmyodo and thought I'd check in and see how many we had interested in that. I didn't have anything in particular related to Onmyodo that I wanted to post. I just more or less wanted to open a thread for Onmyodo-related discussion outside of the board archives.

So yeah. If you're interested in Onmyodo or related materials, feel free to post here with comments or questions or... anything really.

-- Y. Abe

The way of yin and yang ha? Interesting.Do you know that many rituals consist this holy symbol?Would you like to explain to us this Japanese esoteric cosmology? Cause maybe there are people out there who really wanna learn.If my memory doesh't play games,i think there are some films and novels also,that speak about this tradition.

Yes. Onmyodo is literally "the way of yin and yang." However, the taijitu, the symbol we generally call the "yin-yang symbol" came about much later in history.

Adherents of Onmyodo, called onmyoji, attended to the emperor and the court nobles. They performed rituals for other people that were mostly related to divination, but also included fortune-telling, astronomy, and astrology. Much of the rituals and practices of onmyoji are related to Chinese folk beliefs such as yin and yang and the five phases (earth, fire, water, wood, metal). Sometimes Chinese folk deities appear in their rituals and so on. Because of this, some people have labeled it "Japanese Daoism," though this isn't quite correct.

There are indeed many novels/films/manga/anime that bear some relation to Onmyodo or are centered on it in some way. This is the primary reason that anyone outside of Japan has ever heard of it.


-- Y. Abe

I'm very interested in onmyodo, but I pretty only know what's already been posted in this thread. If you know any of the names of any movies or anything off the top of your head, I'd appreciate it. I know a little bit about shikgami and ofuda, but not from the most reliable source. I'm actually going to Japan soon, too

OK... Onmyodo-related media off the top of my head:

Movies/Anime Licensed in the U.S.:
-- Doomed Megalopolis (anime)
-- Negima!
-- Onmyoji
-- Onmyoji II
-- Otogi Zoshi (anime)
-- Shonen Onmyoji (anime)
-- Tokyo Babylon (anime)
-- Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis
-- X (anime)

There's a LOT of other anime out there with elements of Onmyodo in it... Too many to name really. "Onmyoji" is the classic movie for this, but it might be hard to understand immediately. On the other hand, "X" draws you into Onmyodo more gradually and I think it's a better start for newbies. However, there's a warning: If you watch the X series, DO NOT watch the so-called "Episode Zero" (An Omen) first. The American licensing company mistakenly put it as the first episode on the first DVD of the series. In reality, watching it first ruins everything.

Anyone else out there with an interest in Onmyodo? There used to be tons of people pre-Fatcat.

Awesome, thank you. Should episode 0 be last?

That's safest. It's only 24 episodes, so do 1-24 and then 0. There's also a movie, but it is a horribly condensed version of the series and it contains no references to Onmyodo whatsoever. Despite the problems with episode 0 and the movie, I would highly recommend X overall as a gateway into Onmyodo.

Doomed Megalopolis and Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis are excellent for when one has a better grasp of Onmyodo. The problem is that both films are condensed versions of Teito Monogatari, a famous set of twelve novels in Japan. Because they are so condensed, they seem very random and American audiences have reacted very poorly to them. However, if you watch them with an open mind, they are really quite excellent.

Good luck!

Okay, let's get to business. What are we here to accomplish? I understand the basics of what this is, but am not sure where everyone wants to go with this. Are we here to learn rituals based on the I-Ching and the Bagua? Perhaps we may be able to relate this to Shugendo? Is anyone interested in summoning a Tengu? I'm interested in all of these, but do NOT want to discuss cartoons.